Italy Milan-based metallers DESTRAGE will head this week on their European tour with PROTEST THE HERO, THE FACELESS and THE CONTORTIONIST. As Destrage fans are aware, the band is infamous for creating entertaining tour videos, and this tour will be no exception! The band has teamed up with Bode Music Gear to produce new tour video episodes for the Bode Music Gear youtube channel, youtube.com/bodesrl. What will make these videos exciting? Challenges. Destrage will be putting band members to the test in completely pointless and trivial challenges: who can fit the most of something in their mouth, pushups, jumping over cars, who can do the most shots, who can break the most guitar strings, etc. What the band will end up with after a few weeks on tour, we can merely venture to guess, but given the bands irreverent and absurd track record, it’s a guaranteed good time!

Destrage have partnered with Sheet Happens Publishing to release a new guitar transcription book! “Are You Kidding Me? No. The complete guitar transcription” is scheduled to be released this month while Destrage is on tour. The book will be available at the band’s merch booth throughout the tour, as well as on sheethappenspublishing.com. The printed book is available HERE and the digital version is available HERE!

In other news, Destrage guitarists Matteo Di Gioia and Ralph Salati have released a new and in depth guitar tutorial for “My Green Neighbour” on the guitartutorials.it youtube channel. Brush up on your sweep picking and learn how to play the song below:

Matteo Di Gioia comments; “These tabs were written by us. There is no deviation herein. Following Luke and Tim’s lovely suggestions, we put down every single note the way we play it. We divided the tracks the way we do while playing live and avoided loops and doubling sections as much as possible. We tried to explain as in depth as possible to deliver you an honest, clear, and enjoyable reading experience.“

Destrage‘s Metal Blade Records debut, “Are You Kidding Me? No.” was released in March 2014.

“It may be early to be talking about the discovery of the year, but the evidence is all too readily available. You need this band in your life.” Metal Hammer UK

Italian metallers DESTRAGE are happy to announce that they will be joining Protest the Hero, The Faceless, and The Contortionist on tour throughout continental Europe this fall! The tour begins on November 11th in Germany and wraps up on December 13th in France. This tour will follow the band’s summer of European festival appearances, including UK Tech Fest, which the band performed at just yesterday evening. Still to come are a variety of Italian festivals, including Watchtower Festival with Napalm Death, Church of Misery, Shores of Null, and more! The band will be posting updates and funny photos from the road all summer long, follow them on facebook.com/destrage so you don’t miss anything!

Guitarist Mat Di Gioia comments: “We were really tempted to enjoy our scout camp with cross camping skiing tournament, tea party debate and knitting workshop week, BUT we chose to tour Europe with fucking Protest The Hero, Faceless and The Contortionist instead. We can’t wait to share the stage with these outstanding bands, this tour is gonna be totally sick! See you there everybody!“

Destrage‘s most recent video is online! The band captured live footage from their recent “Are You Kidding Me? Tour.” throughout their home country of Italy. Thousands of fans across nine Italian cities came to see Destrage perform songs from their new album “Are You Kidding Me? No.” and fans from the rest of the world can sample a small portion of what that show was like in the new video at metalblade.com/destrage! The video was directed by Destrage guitarist Matteo Di Gioia for The Jack Stupid.

“It may be early to be talking about the discovery of the year, but the evidence is all too readily available. You need this band in your life.” Metal Hammer UK

“technical enough to wow the pants off of virtuoso players worldwide, it’s also an extremely fun record that’s hard not to find catchy” MetalInsider.net

“Are You Kidding Me? No. is an electric middle finger in the face of compartmentalization…above all, AYKM?N is a fun album. It mixes the skillset and tightness of every single member into a blender and spits out 100% grade-A goldstuff, but it knows where to bring in the right riffs and solos; where to jam out and when to build.” TheMonolith.com

While putting the final tweaks to their upcoming album which is roughly scheduled to be out in the summer, via Century Media, UK’s MONUMENTS can announce being special guests on the upcoming tour of Protest The Hero.

Graspop Metal Meeting has confirmed LIMP BIZKIT as second headliner for Saturday June 28. Read below:

Two years ago LIMP BIZKIT amazed both friend and foe with a hard-hitting headlining show that topped off the second festival day. Their obstinate mix of nu-metal lavishly covered with a hip hop sauce was one of the day’s highlights and the crowd in front of the stage really let their hair down. This GMM-edition Fred Durst and friends will be providing top entertainment as headliner on Mainstage 2 on Saturday June 28. Their new album, ‘Stampede of the Disco Elephants’, is scheduled for an early 2014 release so there’s new material to look forward to as well. Judging by their previous GMM show we’re in for crazy costumes, the occasional striking cover and boundless live energy. These guys know how to whip an arena into a frenzy so come prepared.

Meta Blade issues that Detroit, MI-based metal act BATTLECROSS is pleased to announce they will be joining Canada’s PROTEST THE HERO as direct support on the band’s spring US tour, which kicks off on March, 1 in Buffalo, NY. Tickets go on sale this Friday, January 24.

Guitarist Tony Asta comments; “Battlecross is very excited to hit the road with Protest The Hero! They seem like a very successful, humble group of guys who don’t take things too seriously yet are serious about the business— a good role model for all modern bands and we can’t wait to get to know them on the road. Oh yeah and they’re shredders!! Being direct support is a huge honor and we won’t let anyone down! This is a very unique tour package and we can’t wait to play to new crowds as well as expose some of our fans to bands they may not have seen yet. See you all in the road this spring!”

BATTLECROSS’ latest effort, War of Will, saw the band on the road as a part of 2013′s Rockstar Mayhem Festival and debuted at #134 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, #118 on the top current albums chart, #2 on the heatseeker chart, #15 on the current hard music chart, #16 on the hard music overall chart, and #32 on the independent albums chart. It didn’t stop here though, as the band also debuted in Canada’s Soundscan charts coming in at #178 Top 200 Current and #25 Hard Music Charts while also landing on the iTunes charts for release date at #103 on the Top 200, #10 on Rock, and #2 on Metal! This marks the band’s first ever Billboard chart debut! War of Will also peaked at #3 on the US iTunes metal chart on the day of release.

Metalholic.com: #2, 10 Best Thrash Metal Albums of 2013

Matterz.co.uk: #1, Top 5 Metal Albums Of The Year

Metalwani.com: #8, Reaper’s Top 10 Metal Albums of 2013

SkullsNBones.com: #15, Metal Mark’s Top 15 Metal Albums of 2013!

“Metallica-approved thrashers…catchy and direct-the secret behind Battlecross songs is that they’re short and not so sweet.”Revolver Magazine

“The overall result falls somewhere between the sheer aggression of traditional thrash and In Flames’ sense of humanity, with nods to the technical ecstasy of metal’s founding fathers along the way.”Metal Hammer Magazine (UK)

“Battlecross sound like the bastard offspring of Kreator, Children Of Bodom and Dragonforce…metal fans will lap this up like a cat with a bowl of cream.”Big Cheese Magazine (UK)

“The level of musical and compositional progression here is startling, to be quite honest…The effect as a whole is energetic and fist-pumping to the extreme, ushering in a beacon of hope for American metal in 2013.”Zero Tolerance Magazine (UK)

“Pound for pound, the Detroit thrashers deliver one of the most eye popping, headbanging, horn throwing live shows in heavy metal.”Outburn, 10/10

“Whoever said that the metal genre has become stale and boring has clearly never heard of Michigan’s Battlecross!”New-Transcendence.com

“All told, War of Will is a compact and exhilarating experience from Battlecross, who are able to capture the feeling of old-school metal without needing to prop themselves up with nostalgia, instead allowing their love of the genre to shine through with every chugging riff, every solo, and every crazed fist pump.”Allmusic.com